The present invention relates to a bipolar type static memory cell with a flip-flop circuit.
The bipolar type static memory cell usually has a flip-flop circuit consisting of load resistors and multi-emitter transistors which are connected in a crossing manner. In such a flip-flop, a diode is often connected in parallel with the load resistor to increase the operation speed. The diode, in many cases, will be an SBD (Schottky barrier diode) because its carrier storage effect is small. Although the Schottky barrier diode has a small carrier storage effect and is suited for high-speed operation, it has a small voltage drop in the forward direction, so that the data is stored relying upon the small voltage in the forward direction. Accordingly, the Schottky barrier diode is sensitive to noises and, therefore, has a low noise margin. In order to avoid the above inconvenience, therefore, an ordinary diode of the pn junction type is often used. The diode of this type, however, has a large carrier storage effect, and causes the operation speed to be decreased as mentioned above.